The present invention is generally related to the field of printers and, more particularly, is related to a system and method for printing under a firing data resolution.
lnkjet printers are often used to print documents and images on a print medium. The print medium can include various types of media, such as paper, photographic print media, labels and so forth.
A conventional inkjet printer includes a movable inkjet printhead mounted on a carriage assembly. The carriage assembly moves the inkjet printhead laterally over the print medium in successive passes. The print medium is advanced in a direction perpendicular to the motion of the printhead by a drive assembly so that the printhead can progressively lay down ink droplets corresponding to the desired pattern being printed.
The printhead has an array of nozzles. Each nozzle generates ink droplets as the printhead moves over the print medium to produce the desired pattern on the print medium. Typically, each nozzle is formed by a nozzle chamber, a firing mechanism, and an orifice, with the firing mechanism being located within the nozzle chamber. Each nozzle is supplied with ink from an ink supply reservoir, noting that different nozzles can be supplied with ink from different ink reservoirs for printing multiple colors or for printing on different types of media.
A trend in inkjet printer technology has been to increase the number of ink drops that are targeted on the print medium and the resolution with which the pattern is printed in an attempt to improve the print quality. However, when increasing these variables, the capabilities of conventional inkjet printers in terms of data processing and/or data buffering capability and in terms of ink expression capability (e.g., nozzle firing ability) can be exceeded.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to increase the print quality without exceeding the capabilities of the inkjet printer.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method of preparing source print data corresponding to a pattern to be imaged on a print medium, the source data having a source data resolution of data points in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. The method includes setting a final print resolution in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction; setting an actual nozzle firing resolution for each sweep of an inkjet printhead in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, the actual firing resolution being lower than the final print resolution in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction than; expanding each source data point into one or more pixels of firing data to produce a firing data set having a firing data resolution the same as the final print resolution; and successively masking the firing data set at the actual firing resolution to generate a series of sweep data sets, each sweep data set containing firing data for an individual sweep of the inkjet printhead.
According to another aspect of the invention, a program embodied in computer readable medium to prepare source print data corresponding to a pattern to be imaged on a print medium, the source data having a source data resolution of data points in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. The program includes code that sets a final print resolution in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction; code that sets an actual nozzle firing resolution for each sweep of an inkjet printhead in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, the actual firing resolution being lower than the final print resolution in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction; code that expands each source data point into one or more pixels of firing data to produce a firing data set having a firing data resolution the same as the final print resolution; and code that successively masks the firing data set at the actual firing resolution to generate a series of sweep data sets, each sweep data set containing firing data for an individual sweep of the inkjet printhead.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a printer system that prepares source print data corresponding to a pattern to be imaged on a print medium, the source data having a source data resolution of data points in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. The printer system includes means for setting a final print resolution in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction; means for setting an actual nozzle firing resolution for each sweep of an inkjet printhead in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, the actual firing resolution being lower than the final print resolution in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction; means for expanding each source data point into one or more pixels of firing data to produce a firing data set having a firing data resolution the same as the final print resolution; and means for successively masking the firing data set at the actual firing resolution to generate a series of sweep data sets, each sweep data set containing firing data for an individual sweep of the inkjet printhead.
According to still another aspect of the invention, an inkjet printer system. The printer system includes a printhead for imaging a pattern on a print medium during successive sweeps over the print medium using a plurality of inkjet nozzles; and a control assembly for controlling the firing of the nozzles of the printhead, the firing of the nozzles for each sweep of the printhead controlled in accordance with a corresponding sweep data set, each sweep data set containing pixelized firing data having an actual firing resolution that is less than a final print resolution of the pattern, each sweep data set generated by expanding each of a plurality of data points from a set of source data corresponding to the pattern into one or more firing data pixels to produce a firing data set and masking the firing data set at the actual firing resolution.